Katsuokai

 

Yeah. Weirdly enough, the only reason I'm not out to my parents is because I don't want to make a bit deal out of it by saying it randomly because I know they won't care. I was going to just come home one day and be like 'hey parental units, here's my girlfriend'. The only stopper in that plan is that I thought I would have a girlfriend by now /forever alone. I'm out to pretty much the whole school and my grandma. Even this random aunt that I never talk to somehow knows about my ex-'special friend'. That was an awkward family dinner, I can tell you.

 

I love tumblr. It's my life and has been for years. I manage to find awesome people with whom I share interests. I had an awkward moment when I was followed by this awesome blog and we started reblogging each other all the time. After a couple of months, it turns out she's the girlfriend of one of my acquaintances. I'm terrified of real life people finding my tumblr (it's a little inappropriate at times). I met her IRL and was just like 'heyyy I'm that tumblr person.'

 

Yes! I will do it!

 

 

Yay! Welcome to the community. I think my favourite thing to ever come out of this fandom is this video:

 

I've watched it a bajillion times. You can thank me later.

 

You're so right about that. I don't want to make this whole ''coming out thing'' a drama, but since I cannot express myself openly without coming out I'll just have to wait for that ''right moment'' to do it. You're not alone in the /forever alone part, /haha although I've started to think that I'm a pansexual aromantic (or maybe I just haven't found the right person yet?)... so I won't have it that ''easy'' when it comes to explaining myself. That must have been an awkward family dinner, indeed. lol It's kinda weird when everyone knows, but still no one dares to bring it up openly. My mom knows, but still she acts like she doesn't; when the conversation is about to be brought up she's just like ''not right now, when everything is under control you'll see how everything will be OK and then we'll also be able to talk about all this stuff without drama''. I understand her very well, so I'll just wait till that right moment comes up so this won't become a bigger drama than what it really is. ;)

 

Oh, all those more or less ''inappropriate'' tumblrs... I cannot even open my dashboard in public spaces because of the content some of the blogs I follow posts. x''D Once I'll start posting my own content over there I'll make sure to create multiple blogs, to the very least I'll have one NSFW blog and another SFW blog. Seems to be for the best. xP

 

Hahaha... that video! It's one of my favourite MLP fan-animations out there. Kanashiipanda knows how to create some utterly classy videos. :D

 

<-This, this is classy. :D

 

Also, woot!!! great you created the ''cutie mark'' thread! That way we'll not hijack this one. :P

 

 

Oh no, you understood me perfectly and you voiced exactly what society assumes of females and girls versus males That's exactly the idea people have.

 

 

 

I agree with you there, Katsuokai. It's truly a sad thing....Sexism exists on both sides of the spectrum, not just towards females, but males as well. And said sexism towards males comes full circle when MLP is brought up, or other well written works that happen to star female characters that men are fans of.

Ah yes, definitely good points you made, of how nerdy girls like me have to deal with people's idea that women cannot be geeks, fangirls, etc, and indeed I am not immune. And I also agree that society has to accept these changes much faster than they are willing to, that men can be just as sensitive and caring as women. We've strived to bring women to men's level for decades, even centuries, and women have only been seen as "people" since the 20th century, however, we have yet to get men equal to women. The patriarchal instinct of humanity despises the feminine, sadly, and I too doubt I'll live to see these fictional walls between masculine and feminine diminish, if it ever does... (I'm quite certain gender roles are instinctive as all human societies have established what the males and females do since they started walking on two legs, and even toddlers have a stereotypical view of what men and women are "supposed" to do). And can instinct ever truly be diminished?

There seem to be some instincts that makes men and women act slightly different stemming from the evolutionary need of survival of our species, but the big problem with our modern societies is that we have ''amplified'' those ''instincts'', converting them into defined ''gender roles'' that we make sure to imbue the coming generations with, thus completely forgetting that even if there are some differences between how the sexes act, not everyone fits into these roles. Studies have shown that e.g. the brains of homosexual people are often similar to those of the heterosexual counterpart of the opposite gender. Plus let's not forget that there exists more than 2 biological sexes; intersex people have always existed and still society acts like if they don't exist at all. :/ Instinct can never truly be diminished, but societies can learn, change and evolve to make space for all of us people that doesn't operate on the same ''instincts'' that the majority of people seems to operate on. ;) It will take a long time and great effort to see this world become the equal place we want it to be, but step by step, even if we might not manage to live long enough to see the fruits of our efforts we'll at least know that we have tried to do something about it, instead of simply standing idly by watching this world become even more rotten than what it was to begin with. At least that is what I keep saying to the misanthropic side of me that keeps thinking ''screw it all and let this world just rotten away!''... . Let's just hope that all of our efforts aren't in vain.

 

 

I see what you mean about the spectrum, but I think it's less to do with discrimination against males than discrimination against femininity. So when men are made fun of for liking mlp or fashion it's about the societal repugnance of the feminine rather than suppression of the male himself. You're right, sexism has negative consequences for men as well as women.

 

The think about nerd girls is a huge problem, especially in comic books and gaming. Felicia Day is a fantastic human being who has dedicated her life to dispelling sexism within nerd culture. You should check out her youtube channel 'Geek and Sundry'. She gives nerd girls the opportunity to show their stuff. She covers gaming, cosplay (MMORPGs, console, table top), comics, t.v. shows, everything.

This is a very interesting conversation. Going on from what you were saying about gender and instinct, I think gender was developed in reaction to sex for the original function of reproduction. As animals, we had to be mostly gender binary/ heterosexual to ensure the continuation of the species. Now that most people think of sex as 50 other things before reproduction, it's become less important. I think that when (and this won't happen for a very long time) alternative methods of reproduction, such as IVF, become so commonplace we don't need sex to reproduce, gender will cease to exist. A person's sex is determined by genitals and gender is just society's method of separating the roles of different genitals. Because plenty of people identify as non-cis, I don't think this can be the be all and end all of the human race.

 

Anyway, that's my two cents. Haha, this has turned from 'yay mlp' to 'gender studies 101'.

You really managed to express that very well. Our modern societies keep encouraging women to engage in traditional male-dominated areas like science and sport, since most things that are associated with masculinity are deemed as positive whereas most things that are associated with femininity are associated with negative labels like ''weakness'' and ''fragility'' and are thus not encouraged. That's wrong on so many levels, but still society has developed those beliefs into what we now know as ''traditional gender roles''. Women (and people of other sexes & gender identities even more) have such a long way to go until reaching true equality, but we must not forget that not only because women are steadily gaining access to male-dominated areas femininity are deemed as any less negative. Women are appreciated when they get into those male-dominated areas since they that way seem to have ''let go'' of the feminine attributes that makes most females, from a patriarchal society's view,''weak'' and ''second class citizens''. Of what use is it to express your emotions and take care of children and the elderly? None at all, at least according to the patriarchal view that only by getting a ''real job (i.e. paid work)'' and by being very bold you're gonna be of any ''real worth'' to society... . We have to show the world that there's nothing wrong about femininity, the same way as there's nothing wrong about masculinity. All sexes, identities and gender roles can be assertive, do things that are of utility to society and we can all, together, make this world a better place.

I also agree with what you said about reproduction. With the continuous advancements in reproduction techniques sooner or later it might not even be necessarily for female-bodied people to go through a pregnancy in order to have children. In today's society we see how people scream that ''the gays'' will make humanity come to an end simply because two persons of the same sex can't biologically have children together, when it has been more than proven that same-sex couples use all means from adoption to IVF to form a family of their own. Reproduction is one of those intrinsic needs most humans seem to have and only because one person happen to be gay or asexual that doesn't mean that they lack the desire and ability to procreate. Sadly, that's something most people don't seem to understand.

 

Hahaha.... yeah, this has really went from ''woot! go bronies!; long live mlp!'' to ''gender studies 101''. I don't think leverhelven knew what she was about to start by starting this thread. lol This fandom sure brings up to the possibility to talk about many interesting and relevant topics about how our modern societies work. Who knew that magical colourful ponies was such a serious topic? :glasses: ?

 

Now you're gonna get a magnifying glass as a cutie mark.

 

Hahaha... . xD Does this mean that I'll no longer have to be a Cutie Mark Crusader?! Woot!!! I've finally found my special talent! :P In all ''seriousness'', though, I've actually had quite some trouble coming up with a satisfying cutie mark and ponysona for myself. I find it so much easier to come up with ''random'' original characters than to come up with one that actually represents me. Maybe I should ditch the somewhat ''abstract'' cutie mark idea and create a simpler one? Hmm.... .

 

 

Yay! Pan-five :guitar: I've been lucky enough to grow up with incredibly normal, accepting parents and fantastic friends. As a kid, it never occurred to me that it could be any other way. In fact, it's only in the past year or so I've really started feeling the weight of homophobia. Anyway, off topic.

 

Yeah, tumblr is a very weird place. I think I can safely say I have met so many different people. Some fab, some not so fab, some a strange mixture of both. I guess because it's where I do most of my networking I have a skewed perspective.

 

 

 

OMG YOU JUST GAVE ME THE BEST IDEA. I'm curious to know what people think their cutie marks would be. I reckon mine would be a music note :P

Wow, I feel so mature right now.

:D /) *Pan-hoof* :P My family have also been very tolerant and accepting of me; when I was a kid I was allowed to do anything I liked, I felt loved and they encouraged me to do the things I enjoy doing. I wasn't really aware of the discrimination and sexism all members of society are subject to and especially the burdens I carry on my shoulders until my teens, though. Now I'm pretty much stuck in the closet because of one (somewhat legit) reason. Sometimes it's better to wait for the ''right moment'' to come out... . I truly believe that my relatives won't freak out once I tell them, but this really isn't the right moment for me to come out, at least that's what I keep reminding myself of... . -_- *sigh* :mellow:

 

Yeah, I haven't really networked there myself, but after lurking around tumblr I reckon what you said. There's great people, not-so-great people and horrible people to be found on tumblr and as what happens with relationships in real life you'll just have to sort them out until you find the most suitable persons to be your friends. ;)

 

/haha ...We're all so very mature! x''D Maybe someone among us should start a discussion thread about it? Maybe this could be a good thread title ''What do you think your cutie mark would be?''. lol If I were to read about other people's cutie marks and maybe even see them that might help inspire me in order to create a better cutie mark for myself... . :glasses:

 

Wow, good catch. Yep, I was one of the backers for Bronydoc :)

Edit: Whoa, actually that's really scary. How did you see my nick under all that names >.<

/haha I suppose I have an insanely good eye for detail?! :P I always watch movies and shows till the end of the credits, so maybe it's just so that I'm more used to paying attention to that kind of stuff? Idk how it comes that I noticed your nickname among all those names; I feel like I've discovered a hidden special talent I didn't even knew I had this very moment. x''D lol

 

It must have been great to see the project funded and finished! ;) I had no idea Bronydoc was crowdfunded, but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest. After all we bronies are very good at creating great content and unite forces to bring our projects to fruition. :)

 

Mmm. I think that's one of the reasons this conversation has been so civil and respectful so far. It'd be a little preposterous to make fun of us for liking MLP on a Neopets forum :P

 

I think maybe because I spend so much time on tumblr and I think that's where it's quite bad. There's this image of the brony as a bigoted, everything-ist, fedora-wearing white dude who thinks he's better than everyone else and is incredibly misogynistic. As you point out, that completely defies everything important to the show. It's hypocritical and stupid and annoying. Like a racist HP fan, or a homophobic Dr Who fan. It's just dumb.

 

I really appreciate how nice everyone's being. It's probably to be expected, but I just constantly get pleasantly surprised by the respect and kindness of people on this forum. Maybe I'm being overly sentimental because I have a cat siting on my arms while I type, but I really love you guys TT

Oh dear. Tell me I wouldn't be that kind of drunk.

Exactly! but even if this is a Neopet-related forum, other forums (that aren't Neopets-related) that could potentially have people of all backgrounds, ages and genders participating in them doesn't have members even near as civil as the people here at TDNF. That's why I love this forum. I simply love how respectful and tolerant the majority of this forums' members are. Saying openly that I'm pansexual and seeing how accepting people are with GLTBQ+ people, how well they treat members of all ages, sexes, beliefs, etc. ... . Man, it's fantastic...! TDNF staff and respectful forum members, please continue to be this great! :rock:

 

Tumblr sure is a weird place, so it's better to not think that what you might see there is the image of the ''average brony''. lol I spend quite some time there too, lurking... and I often see the most weirdest of things. It sure is a place that has the good, the bad and the ugly of the internet and society all contained in a single place ''coexisting'' in such an uncanny way. Really, it would be interesting to see a study about how the ''average'' tumblr user is like. lol

 

And the fan service, don't forget about that. The creators do care about what fans want (although their legal team doesn't always play nice)

 

 

/)^3^(\

Derpy... !!! /)^3^(\ I love how they brought her back after all the fuss that happened after they censored her... . Yes, some people (a few parents with children with disabilities) thought that having a clumsy, but absolutely adorable pony that happens to be cross-eyed in the show was disrespectful towards people with disabilities (yeah, that logic /facepalm), so they tried to eliminate her from the show altogether. Good thing for us fans, they brought her back uncensored after the major uproar it caused! Why on Earth can't a character in a cartoon have a disability? It defeats the point of the show altogether, (love and tolerance, remember?) more so taking into account how pretty much everyone loves her for how adorable and likable she is. :3

 

You're right maikrowsoft, it's sad that that their legal team doesn't always play nice, but I'm really happy that at least the show's creators care about us fans so much that they even create fan service for us bronies, instead of doing everything that Hasbro and their legal team wants. It really does make the show even more special. ;)

 

(Somewhat off-topic, did you have anything to do with Bronydoc? I think I saw your name in the ''special thanks'' section under the nickname Reign of Computer... . As they say, the world sure is a small place! :P)

 

Simple. Bronies are fans of the show because it's a really good show, just like any great show out there. It doesn't talk down to kids or get stuck in the girl show ghetto of being bland. Lauren Faust knew a show that appeals to be girls can be well written and appeal to anyone, and that's what she set out to do. This is why we have viewers of all ages. Plus, the characters, the more you watch them, have a lot of depth and more to your personality than what you may observe by one episode.

 

The reason this show caused such an uproar and a shock to the media is the fact that a lot of boys and men like the show, something that does not adhere to "gender roles", and the notion that men are not allowed to like shows about candy colored cartoon ponies nor are they allowed to be remotely interested in anything with a female protagonist or six. Some other shows have stood up to prove society wrong, such as Nickelodeon's Legend of Korra, whose producers state "We'll show people boys can be interested in a show with a female protagonist". And while it worked, it's not as good as it's original series, A:TLA.

 

And because of society's strict rules for men that are more oppressive than you think, bronies are hounded for liking this show because of the target demographic. You wouldn't question people's interest in shows like Game of Thrones, but everybody does with MLP.

True, I am a girl in the fandom, and the women in the fandom may be less likely to be questioned by society due to our being the "right gender", despite being far older than 5 years old.

 

I also suggest looking at some of the fan content, some bronies have explained their love for the show well through music, videos, even artwork. I'd like to show you a video made by Saberspark, called "Ponies Vs. Parents", and a video or two by one of the fandom's analysts, Dr. Wolf:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcekKKOGEuw Ponies Vs. Parents

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc3yUk0XnHs&list=UUSVbVB1hckKojjYdOl9q2og Understanding Anti Bronies (part 2)

 

I recommend looking at Dr. Wolf's and Saberspark's channels. They tackle a lot of topics as of what it means to be a brony and dealing with social stigma.

 

I have also been reading this article in which two people are researching the brony fandom to get a better understanding of the community. Didn't know there was a topic in antrhopology called "fandom studies" until I read this! http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2014/08/research-is-magic-an-interview-with-ethnographers-jason-nguyen-kurt-baer/

 

Oh, and one more thing: Saberspark's documentary "Ballad of the Brony" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE7I_IDX98g

 

I hope I have been helpful!!

Very interesting links Lady Lyuba! I'll take a better look at them later. ;)

 

What you said is exactly one of the many reasons why this show is so great. Generation 4 of MLP sure has managed to not get stuck in the ''girl ghetto'', making it a show that can be appreciated by children and adults alike. It's disgusting to live in a society that tries to ostracize you simply for liking something that's not ''suitable'' for your age and gender. I'm a dude, but since I don't have a very active social life at all, (too sick and tired of my old ''friends'' that I decided I was better off without them) I've yet to be ridiculed for being a brony (at most my best friend and my mom joke with me about it, but they accept it and have even enjoyed some MLP-related videos I've showed them, so that doesn't really count), although I do constantly feel the weight of society's expectations on how adults, especially how I as a man should act and think and what I should and shouldn't like. It's so very tiresome and so very sad to be subject to so many worries simply because you doesn't quite fit in with the role society deems appropriate for you. It's true that women have it somewhat easier in this fandom, but as you well said, you aren't completely immune to discrimination due to the fact that you're well over the age of the show's supposed target demographic (and other pernicious stereotypes that e.g. women can't be fangirls, that only men can be part of a fandom, etc.). It's nice to see shows with a varied cast and having at least shows with women as main protagonists in productions whose target demographic isn't only girls and/or women is a great start. Women can be strong, great leaders and brave! while men can be sensitive and caring, there's nothing wrong with that and society has to begin to accept that fact faster. Too bad I don't think I'll live long enough to see this world become the equal place I think it should be... . :sad01_anim:

Katsuokai, maybe I have to give MLP another chance xD I mean it was really late at night when I watched it plus my roommate and I weren't really paying much attention haha. I actually had no idea that it had been around so long, I thought it was a rather new cartoon. I did like the style of animation, the way everything was drawn and styled. Plus all the pretty colors xD oh! and I love weird al, I didn't know there was a character dedicated to him, that's too funny! I don't think I'll ever really get into MLP but I have my own interests that might be out of the ordinary for someone my age. Maybe uhh neo? haha. But I think we all do.

 

Thank a bunch for posting links to the videos! I'll make sure to make time to watch them :)

Yeah, the show has been around since October 10, 2010... so the show isn't really ''new'', but I suppose that our ever growing fanbase is making even more people notice us now, thus making this a hot topic to discuss. :P People don't understand that adults, more so how even adult men without children can love to watch a show that centers around colourful ponies. It's pretty sad that liking things that are considered ''feminine'' still carries so much stigma. Is it really such a bad thing that I'm kind towards other people and that I express my feelings? It's really sad that the world still thinks that a ''real man'' shouldn't do that and it's the very proof that we still have such a long way to go until we reach true equality between all genders.

 

Good the links are of use! Even if you don't end up liking the show I appreciate that you're giving it a second chance. ;) I also think that most people have some interests that might be out of the ordinary for someone their age, it's just that they simply don't dare to admit it. At least we here at TDNF know the joys of playing with virtual pets and being honest about who we are. :P /haha Oh, also if you like Weird Al I suppose a better introductory episode would be ''Pinkie Pride''; pretty much the entire episode is dedicated to him;... he is the voice actor of the character that's supposed to represent him and he even sings throughout the episode!!! It was simply too much greatness contained in a single episode. :D I really hope they make him come back next season, cause I would love to see Cheese Sandwich again! :) I still have a few episodes left to watch of the current season (real life got in the way), but I'm already excited for the next season. :P

 

 

/applause

Fantastic. I was talking to my friend a few weeks ago and I casually mentioned that I was a brony (have been since season one). She was shocked because in her world brony was synonymous with d-bag. She told me that if I said that on the internet I'd be virtually lynched and that 'brony' was only used to refer to the complete [insert preferred foul language here] that come from the fandom. I was, of course, confused by this. I think it's incredibly unfortunate that we have so many maniacs in our fandom, however I am somewhat disturbed by the references throughout this thread to:

 

and

 

 

Okay, I know you probably mean well, but that's not what a brony is. Do you think all Whovians believe the Doctor is real? Do you think all Potterheads believe in magic? We do not have mental and emotional problems. I don't suffer from a lost childhood and I've never been assaulted, it that's what you're trying to imply. I'm trying not to be offended, because I can see you're just curious, but we're essentially the same as fans of all the normal stuff. We're not crazy, we don't have issues, and maybe, just maybe, we like FIM because it's awesome. Not because of mental problems.

I have also watched the series since season one and I have seen this community of ours developing, growing stronger and building something amazing. ;) Sadly, as what happens with every single fandom out there, there will be trolls that harass us and also bronies that doesn't seem to get the ''love and tolerate'' part at all. I can respect and tolerate everyone, as long as they respect me and let me live my life in peace. That is something everyone should take to heart and apply in their everyday lives. One does not need to have mental health issues to like something, even if it's talking colourful ponies or Neopets... and even if someone where to have e.g. crippling anxiety problems, what would be wrong about watching cartoons to cheer you up after an exhausting day? Watching MLP:FiM and playing Neopets doesn't mean that I don't care about my studies and my future, it's simply something I enjoy, it's something that cheers me up and makes me relax. I can't see anything bad about it. Would it be better that instead of playing Neopets and watching MLP:FiM I would go to a pub (or nearest park) and drink till I almost pass out? Cause that's what I see almost everyone my age, both older and younger do and I don't think that can be healthy. I'm not implying that having a beer or two is harmful, but mind you, some social interactions surrounding it can be harmful and even annoying for everyone that has to deal with all the drunk people using the street as a public toilet. ¬¬;

 

Most bronies are quite educated individuals that simply like the show, they're not ''creeps'' that dwells in their parents' basement using ponies as an excuse to prey on children. Since we're bringing up this issue on a Neopet-related forum, do some of you people reading this believe that the adults that visit this very forum are ''creeps''? Cause we're not creeps, we like Neopets, some of us like MLP:FiM, others like Doctor Who and others enjoy spending their free time playing Pokemon. It may seem ''immature'' for someone that have never been in a fandom in their entire life, but we enjoy it and it doesn't prevent us from being productive individuals. I'm a student and a brony, not a ''creep'' that sends ''questionable'' images to the show's creators... .

 

There will always be good and bad fans. Among the ''good'' fans we have those that simply enjoy watching/reading/listening/playing/doing whatever their fandom is dedicated to, some of them might start to create art and music dedicated to their fandom while other fans like to write fanfics about how they want their OC to start dating Harry Potter or even a Pokemon. When it comes to the ''bad fans'', we have those that like to wreak havoc and harass everyone that might dislike their favourite character or simply aren't part of their fandom and some of them might even go as far as harassing the creators of the franchise they claim to love. That's just how things are, but I don't think this is any more of a problem within the MLP:FiM community than in any other fandom, or is it? At least I don't think this is as big as an issue as some claim it to be. I truly believe that there aren't many ''maniacs'' in our fandom, it's simply that some very vocal trolls have managed to become the focal point of our community (when it comes to how the ''outside world'' perceives us). It doesn't help that both bronies and non-bronies alike ''encourage'' them to continue trolling us instead of simply ignoring them. Remember: Don't feed the parasprites.

 

It's truly marvelous to see such a great community come together in a spirit of respect, tolerance and friendship, so I really hope we never let those few overly vocal trolls destroy the great community we have created. :yes: /)

It was very fun to do two customizations as a single entry this time around, but oh man, it sure was hard to settle down with two that I liked and that also fitted the theme!

Here's my entry (click on the images to see them animated on DTI):



The Guardian of Light had been able to bring light to even the deepest of Neopia's oceans for centuries, but sadly, due to her lack of hind legs she has not ever been able to climb up to the darkest caves of Terror Mountain. Sadly, without any light to shine on them for so long, the creatures inhabiting this place soon became lifeless and angry. Especially the poor Boris that had for so long inhabited Terror Mountain's caves without ever seeing the light. After all these centuries in permanent darkness, the Boris began a horrible transformation into wretched creatures, only longing to bring darkness to all of Neopia since they no longer were able to endure the slightest hint of light without being blinded by it's brightness. Will the Guardian of Light ever find a way to restore the Boris and the rest of the creatures that inhabit the mountain to their former glory or will soon all of Neopia know what it feels like to live in permanent darkness?

PS The images are already cropped for better viewing quality.

I got all the prizes for the event, including the bonus for piecing together all of the parchment pieces. :) Here's a screenshot:



Lol, that hidden message for piecing together all of the parchment pieces. Hahaha... what was Princess Amira thinking about? Good she lost it before she had the opportunity to announce it. x''D

I never watched the previous generations of MLP as a kid and have only watched the current generation, i.e. G4 also known as MLP:FiM. When I started watching the show some years ago, if my memory isn't tricking me here, I saw it on TV and had no better thing to do and thought, ''ugh, another Barbie-like show...'' but then, wow, I liked it and have been hooked ever since! The shows characters are very well developed, they got depth, the voice acting is amazing, the animation that's done in flash is flawless, the music is wonderful, I love it! At first one would think that a MLP cartoon would be poorly done and just one long commercial made into a TV series, but no, MLP:FiM is something more. It teaches values that are good for children and are a good reminder to us adults that we should be more accepting, open-minded and that we should care more about each other. The team behind MLP:FiM has really outdone themselves with this cartoon, I mean, flash animation is a cheap medium to animate with and the characters are mostly the same model used for every single pony, but still they managed to give each character unique animations, a very distinct personality, a good background story, etc. . The community is also awesome. Bronies around the world come together and create amazing art, music and animations, they do fundraisings for charities,... they have really developed a community unlike anything else I've seen before.

For someone that has never watched the show I suppose some good introductory episodes would be ''Lesson Zero'' and maybe ''Wonderbolts Academy'', they really portray some of these things that make this show unique and appealing to adults. The comics would also be a great start, they're somewhat darker than the TV series, but a lot of fun! :D Also, if you're really wondering why the show is so popular, here's a good article on the subject in Round Stable, a webpage featuring news, articles and reviews about MLP:FiM made by bronies. ;)

For me the show is appealing in every single aspect: the characters are fun and relatable, the animation is bright and aesthetically appealing, I enjoy listening to the music and the remixes made by the fans,... the storyline is very entertaining. I'm a true Brony, I embrace being it, but I don't force people to watch the show and I respect that not everyone might like the franchise, but I do think that many people out there would think about MLP:FiM and us bronies differently if they took the time to watch the show and/or interact with us fans. :) I'm a fan of many things and I'm part of many communities, among other things I'm a nerd, an otaku, a brony, a gamer... I'm also part of the GLTBQ+ community (I've already mentioned once on this forum that I'm pansexual) and I truly want this world to become a better place; a world in which everyone, regardless of gender, race, believes, interests, etc. should be able to live in together in peace and harmony. For me, MLP:FiM is a good representation of these values, that even though everyone is different, if we put in a little effort we can make this place a better world, we can strengthen our communities, live in harmony with one another and all be happy with our lives. I fail to see who I harm for liking MLP:FiM, who I harm for being an adult male that plays Neopets, who I harm for being pansexual and believe that everyone has the right to live in peace and be treated equally. Well, I actually do understand why so many people hate us: it's all these outdated social norms and believes that everyone who doesn't fit into what's considered ''normal'' during a certain time in a certain place must be insane or a danger to society. That's really sad and it's the very reason why so many people face prejudice in their everyday lives, that they're even discriminated to the point that many consider suicide as the best way out and some even go ahead and kill themselves. It's so very depressing that so many persons just doesn't seem able to accept that, hey, everyone is different and that isn't a bad thing! Some people like the colour blue, others the colour red, others like to wake up early while others like to stay up all night, some like pop music while others like rock music... I could go on and on with examples and my point would always be the same: being different, liking things that others don't like is as little harmful as liking the colour red while your best friend or neighbour might like the colours blue and black. ;)

I had two really good guy friends at college and one night we decided to have a movie night. Little did me and my roommate know we would spend the night watching my little pony episodes with the guys haha. We thought they were just goofing off, but then they started going on about the characters and naming them and talking about which ones liked or disliked and why. I didn't really know what to think of this. lol....I didn't find the episodes very exciting...the plot lines were rather bland. I think they were just into it due to the hype of it all. They kind of treated it as a joke, but behind it was there was this spark of genuine interest.

 

This documentary seems interesting. I'll have to look for it!

/haha I can really relate to that (that they treated it like a joke although they really had a genuine interest for the show), although I don't have any friends that are bronies. My best friend joke with me about how I like MLP:FiM sometimes showing me memes or videos that are simply hilarious that are actually made by bronies as ''inside jokes''. Most dudes (and I suppose many girls too) like to joke about their interests, we can joke about anything, it's simply our way to approach these things, even more so if what you like is something you could be made fun of. It's always better to be able to laugh at oneself than to be dragged down by hurtful comments from other people. Even my mom joke with me about it, but she does accept that I like the show and she even sympathize with Twilight Sparkle after showing her some videos. :P The show is truly engaging, the characters are fun and you can just sit back and relax while watching these colourful ponies and their antics. One thing I think is so great about MLP:FiM is to see many of the winks to us bronies from the animators and writers of the show; they're just brilliant! :D They really manage to put a smile on my face with their hilarious references and jokes... like dedicating a character to Weird Al Yankovic, having John de Lanice voice one of the villains, having Slendermane (Slenderman) appear in the background of one episode,... and that's fantastic taking into account that this show could just have been a dull attempt at reviving a toyline from the 80's that pretty much none of us guys would have liked to watch (or even dared to watch) if it weren't for the brilliant work of the staff behind MLP:FiM. :P

I decided to look up that documentary and watch it (here's a link), it was quite good, maybe a bit old (from 2012), but sure fun to see some notorious faces within the community when they first started out. :P There's another documentary that is more recent that you can watch here (although I haven't watched it yet) and are about to have a second part released soon. I was gonna watch it once I catched up with my backlog of viewing material, lol but I think that I might watch it later today instead of putting it back to my endless ''watch later'' list on youtube.

Well, that was a long post. I hope I could make some of you understand why we bronies like MLP:FiM so much. :)

Love and tolerance, fellow Neopians and Bronies! /)

Many of you have suggested to link to my Tumblr or Deviantart in my signature, thank you. However I must warn you I am not very active on my Deviantart anymore, and my Tumblr is not specifically an art blog but also a random blogging blog as well. Maybe I should make an art-specific side blog.

I really encourage you to do that. Many artists I follow on Tumblr have various blogs for different things, e.g. one art-only blog, one ''mod-blog'', one inspiration blog... etc. and some also use their mod-blog to sometimes reblog some of their own art in case they want to get more attention to their art-only blog. Even if you currently aren't very active on any of these sites it would help you get you started. Also, this way you won't have to do any work in the future to set up all the different blogs once you'll start posting more often. ;) ...Hm, but in case you don't want to manage various blogs another option would be to add an art-only tag to your blog so people don't have to see your reblogs and text posts in case they don't want to. Use a tag like ''ladylyubasart'' or something along those lines instead of ''my art'', since the second tag would only help your followers find your art while on your blog... instead of easily finding it while checking out their followed tags, a common mistake I see way too many artists do. That tumblr dash is way to cluttered to find anything on it, so a good tagging system helps a lot. :P Or a gigantic button with a link to your deviantart from your tumblr, that would also do the trick lol (people are lazy, so making things overly obvious can be useful sometimes). :P

 

I'll make sure to check out your blog once you post the link! :D It's always fun to see some nice art. ;)

Many of the Faerie pets needs a redesign, also some of the Robot pets that doesn't have the same amount of detail as the other ones (I'm looking at you, Robot Chomby among many others...). Some Desert, Royal, Christmas and Halloween pets, all the Ghost pets that have the same facial expressions as the basic coloured pets and all the Invisible pets that can't wear clothes need a redesign, fast! Some Magma pets that lack enough accents could also need a minor redraw or touch ups... and the other coloured pets that they forgot to draw some facial expressions for. If I were to post images of all the pets I think needs to be redrawn this post would be endless... so I won't do that. lol Here are some though:

Compare this cool-looking Robot Ogrin (although the male without the casing lacks robot eyes... TNT needs to fix that or if they already have then someone should model it for DTI) and this awesome Robot Bruce...


... to these utterly boring and plain Robot pets.



I mean, come on, it can't take that much time to update the designs of some pets... . Some pet designs just scream lazy in comparison to the other pets and make TNT look like they doesn't care about providing quality. :/ If some pets have old designs and TNT fear that updating them would make some players complain, why not give the players the option to keep them with the old design while providing the other players the option to update their pets to the new designs? We already have UC pets, so why not make a 2nd generation of UC pets?

Also, I don't like the Robot Grundo, but at least it isn't as plain looking as many of the old Robot pets. It's just so that its design isn't my cup of tea. It isn't poorly drawn nor outdated, but still... meh... it could have been a lot cooler. lol

First of all, you shouldn't feel that way about your art, after all it can be very hard to get followers on the internet among all the other great artists, so if you want recognition for your art you'll have to do a lot of marketing. I took a look at your profile and I saw no links to your tumblr and deviantart, so I can't follow you even if I wanted to. Maybe you could make a nice banner as advertising and use it as your signature? I'm also interested in publishing my art online, but I would either need a good scanner or a graphic tablet (and also start drawing regularly again), so my tumblr and deviantart are void of content. lol Once I get back into the swing of things again I'll make sure to get myself a good ''online presence'' in order to get followers and maybe start taking commissions. My recommendation is that you should take a look at how the successful art blogs started out, how they advertised themselves and all that stuff, that could help you see what you should do in order to get some followers. ;)

Continue enjoying what you're doing and do not let the lack of feedback get you down. I hope you post the links to your deviantART and Tumblr here so at least we at the forums can look at your art. :D

Thanks for the idea. I had actually thought of a scarf or necklace, but I should have mentioned that I am really not for NC Trading as I think it's basically ripping people off to ask for two or three GBC for an item you paid max 250 NC for, or something else worth far more. The items used for The Dreamstress are all NC items I already own. And with that look the collar doesn't bother as much, only with her current look.

There are just practically no cute NP items that fit Feline's current look and most of the necklaces I've found and liked just disappear under the collar.

Sorry for being such a pain, because I really liked your idea for the current look :)

 

Edit: I took your advice on the Golden Key Necklace because it's so delicate and barely even there. And I think I've found some items I can work with! :D

I might convert one of my other, less favoured, pets to a Xwee and give her the Dreamstress look :3. Win-win-win.

​Glad I could be of help! :D Good you found some items you could work with that doesn't require you to trade for them. If you convert some of your other pets to give her the Dreamstress look both your Xweetoks will look great, a win-win-win situation indeed. ;) I still have to figure out a customization for my own Xweetok, but it's hard when you're not into NC Trading. The reason you mentioned is exactly the same one I've not yet tried out NC trading; I feel like I'm wasting my money trading for overpriced items I couldn't get when they were first released. Other games have an in-game economy that works an awful lot better than Neopets' and doesn't make you feel like you're being ripped off when purchasing something, like e.g. TERA's in-game economy. You can buy items from the in-game store with real money, but you can also get retired items from other players with in-game gold you get by killing mobs and doing quests, so there's no real money on the line unless you want to spend your money on vanity items! and that's great. I've also seen somewhere else a game with a well developed in-game economy, but I put that example since it is ''Free to Play'' like Neopets and the vanity items/wearables are just an added bonus to the players and a way for En Masse/Neopets to make some extra cash, without including the money they get from elite/premium players. TNT should go with the times and create a more well-developed in-game economy that combines Neopoints, Neocash and NC item trading in a more efficient way. It would probably encourage more players to purchase those Random Number Generator NC items, since it wouldn't be such a pain to get rid of the items you don't want... . They should also merge the inventory space you have across all the accounts you own (at least for premium users...) since I find it ridiculous that you have to purchase Gift Boxes to send some of your NC items from one of your accounts to another one of your accounts. :/ Sorry for the slightly off-topic rant, I couldn't stop myself from typing that down... . TNT, if you read this, it's about time you change it!!!

can I ask what is the logic grid? I have been clicking the clues every day and its been pretty dull .. is there some other part that I am missing?

 

or is this the neocash part of the event?

 

Is there anything else to do other than click the clue links if you are not doing the nc part?

Besides clicking the clue links and the NC part of the event there's nothing else to do, sadly. :/

 

Well, since it's a logic puzzle, you can use a ''logic grid'' to put together the clues. Jellyneo has made one available here. Just fill it in with the clues provided and you're good to go! I already got 15 ''x'' marked in mine. To fill in the grid, let's take a look at this clue:

 

The Oasis Runners stole an item sometime before the guild who bribed a guard.

 

That means that the Oasis Runners didn't bribe a guard, so you can mark an ''x'' in that square of the methods this guild used.

 

Hope I could be of any help. ;)

Your current customization is kinda plain, but you could easily spice it up with a nice dress. The new customization is nicer than the one you have right now (since it doesn't look plain), but if the only problem here is that the ruff annoys you, then you could always remove the ruff! ;) Here's a few slightly altered version of both your customizations with the collar/ruff removed (click on the images to see them on DTI):



The Golden Key Necklace (still available for purchase in the NC Mall), Snow Queen Necklace and Colourful Mootix Scarf are a few examples of items that remove the ''ruff'' some pets have.

My suggestion is that if you're tired of her current customization, change her, but if you could still like the way she looks with just a few changes and want to spend your NC Cash and/or neopoints on something else keep her the way she is.

This event sure is interesting; I might even purchase some dictionaries to try get some of the NC rewards! :P

 

who wants to help me put some clues together cuz im really bad with this puzzle thing

I still have to work this thing out myself, lol but over at Jellyneo they have made available a logic grid that you can use to put together the clues. I'll use it for sure, since it's so much easier to keep track of everything with it. ;)

I'm so glad that I bought all 3 MiniMME18! All these items are really neat. :) Maybe I should buy all 3 MiniMME19 too instead of just one... .

Congratulations! I personally don't dare have my battlepet as my active neopet when I try out the Random Events Machine since it can decrease it's stats, but it sure must be nice to get a major stat increase like that! The Coincidence has been mostly a money pit for me, except for the P3 (Aboogala) I got from it! I'm still trying to make neopoints of it though, since the prices of some P3 are quite unstable. If it were a P3 I liked I would have kept it, too bad that isn't the case with this one. lol :P I won't stop doing this daily after such a great prize, but I do cancel the quest sometimes if that crazy Lutari wants me to bring him something outrageously expensive. lol +10k on a daily is not worth it all. x''D

Woot!!! I won! :happydance: Now I can proudly display the 1st place trophies of both TDN's FCC and Neopets Customisation Spotlight on my user lookup. Hehe. :D

Here's my entry for the current contest:



''Off with her head!''

Henry VIII, King of England.

PS The image is already cropped for better viewing quality. ;)

I was battling the Lab Ray Scientist, and i looked at the combat log in about my 5th fight with him, and it said 'He changed StarChills gender from Female to Male!' - Doh! So i'd accidentally missed the previous time he changed it mid battle. Took a few more gos but he finally used it again and now i've got StarChills back as a female! :laughingsmiley:

That gives me 4 female neopets now!

Hahaha... things like that can happen! Good you could turn her back to a female after not all that many tries; glad I could help. ;) Have fun customizing her! :D

The name might be somewhat more feminine than masculine, but the outfit sure suits all gender identities. ;) I for one prefer male pets over female ones since the eyelashes most female pets have makes them harder to customize in case I want them to have a more manly or androgynous appearance. I actually have a female Lenny named Lenaria, that I have planned to paint Faerie unless I change my mind. Even though she got a feminine name I wouldn't hesitate about presenting her as a male character instead depending on the customization. In the end it's up to you to choose which gender you want to keep your pet as. Personally I think it would be a waste to purchase a Strange Potion or risk firing the lab ray at the pet if you truly love it's current species and colour combination, especially considering that you can't hardly see the eyelashes on a female Shadow Lenny. lol If you really want to change your Lenny's gender, maybe you could try battling the Lab Ray Scientist instead? In case you decide to battle him it's good to know that according to Jellyneo you don't have to win the battle, but it might take a while until he decides to use his Strange Potion. Also, remember to not battle him on a side account since the Battledome is a neopoint earning activity.

Fun thread; it's interesting to see how you decided on your pets' names. :D

Here's the meaning behind my pets' names and my account usernames, since the usernames are important too. :P

otaku_kiu account (yeah, horrible username, I didn't have a proper nickname at the time; too bad we can't change it)

Leonirus the Eyrie was my first neopet. I thought it was fitting for an Eyrie since they're part lion and the ending just sounded cool. I have since decided to end most of my pets' names with ''us''.
Lumineus the Lutari got his name because it is similar to ''Lutari'' and I think it must have reminded me of the word ''luminous'' + since Lutaris come from a tropical habitat I thought it was fitting.
Ronaeus the Hissi got his name from the word ''ronae'', Thalassian word meaning ''peaceful''. Thalassian is the language of the Blood Elves in World of Warcraft.
Ruarius the Ruki - a made-up name sounding similar to ''Ruki''.

theforsakenhorde account (account name is a reference to the Forsaken and the Horde in WoW)

Azwani the Aisha - I wanted a name that sounded similar to Aisha, so after coming up with a bunch of made-up names and looking them up on the internet I saw that there were names in... Hindi (I think...) similar to the ones I had come up with, so I decided to name mine Azwani, as a reference to some of those names that sounded similar. Although I can't remember which spellings and meanings of the names I based Azwani on... . I think it was something cosmic related if my memory isn't failing me... after all I really like the Alien Aisha's from Assignment 53 (my favourite game on Neopets), so the name had to be more unique than my other pets names, fitting of an Alien Aisha recruit. ;)
Harkorius the Kougra - I thought about making a character in WoW named Harkor as a reference to a character in the game named Har'koa (a goddess) but with a masculine spin to it. I thought it sounded nice on my Kougra since the goddess Har'koa looks like a snow leopard and is my favourite out of the Loa Gods in-game. :P
Elusivius the Uni - his name is a reference to Rarity from MLP:FiM; her genderbent fanmade name is Elusive. That name, Elusives, Rarity and Elusivity are all taken, hence the choice of Elusivius... .
Gnarubia the Gnorbu - made-up name sounding similar to Gnorbu, but with a feminine spin to it.

alexstraszasconsort account (again a reference to WoW, this time to one of my favourite characters, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder. I thought about naming the account Korialstrasz (Alexstrasza's Prime Consort and her true love), but the name was already taken and thus I decided on ''alexstraszasconsort'', more fitting since I probably wouldn't mind that much being her consort... . Hahaha. x''DDD)

Ogariun the Ogrin - similar to pet species name and sounded good.
Arkadiun the Bori - sounded good and is similar to the word ''arcade'', which is nice since I'm a nerd. When I was a kid I loved going to the arcades. Hehe. :D
Darzius the Flotsam - sounded dark and thus was fitting for a Darigan Flotsam. Although I haven't painted him Darigan yet... .
Omnirus the Chomby - sounded fitting for a dinosaur and I liked the idea of maybe making him my lab rat, thus ''omni'', meaning ''all'' in latin. If I make him a ''shapeshifting'' neopet the name will always fit. ;)

thedarkladysforsaken account (yet again a reference to one of my favourite WoW characters, in this case to Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, leader of the Forsaken, one of my favourite races alongside Blood Elves and Draenei :P)

Lenaria the Lenny - sounded good, similar to Lenny, but with a feminine touch and also happens to be nice since ''aria'' is a real word. Will most likely be painted Faerie unless I change my mind.
Xzyrabelle the Cybunny - I thought about different names, then the name Sweetie Belle (Rarity's little sister) came to my mind. I didn't want to name her that, thus the spin to the name, although it's heavily inspired by it and the fact that the Cybunnies bodies reminds me of a ''bell''. lol
Drakoirus the Koi - I wanted a dark sounding name fitting a Darigan Koi, thus ''Drak'', play on ''dark''. I also added the species name ''koi'' and my signature name ending ''us'', in this case ''rus''. I pronounce the name as Dra-ko-irus.

katsuokai account (just the username I tend to almost always use on the internet, too bad I can't have this username on my main account; if it weren't for all the nice perks I have on my main account I probably would have made this account my main lol)

Xweriuz the Xweetok - Sounded nice; play on species name.
Technicurious the Grundo - I was listening to this song and saw the word techné (art, craft, skill, science in Greek) at the beginning of the music video, thus I decided to name my Grundo something related to that word and the word technology. At first I thought about naming my Grundo Technicorius, but then it struck me that ''corius'' sounded similar to ''curious''... thus my Grundo's name's meaning in my mind is something similar to ''curious about technology/skilled technician''. :)

I have 3 (4 if I ever become premium) pet slots left but I'm not sure what I'll name those pets, since the names I wanted to use are all taken... some on pets that will probably take years to be purged. Sigh... . ;/

OH. MY GOD. DAT PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

LET'S BE BEST FRIENDS. LIKE, RIGHT NOW.

 

I've always LOVED The Phantom of the Opera!!!! Both the book and the musical!!! That's SO perfect!!! <3 <3 Actually I'm gonna use it on my Halloween Cy, so it gets an even darker look, THANK YOU SO MUCH *breathless*

 

...*recomposes self*

 

Cahem. Where was I? Oh yes! Thank you all for the ideas! :D

 

I'm gonna check the prices for all of them, but right now my favourites are Xepha's and the Greek God from Lizzee. Anyways, I'm probably gonna come back here to show you guys the results (and also my Halloween Cy's new Phantom look, THANK YOU KATSUOKAI <3)

 

Thank you all once again <3

How fortunate I decided to make a Phantom of the Opera customization then!!! :thumbsup: Really happy you liked it so much. :D Myael looks great as the real Phantom, in fact, all your Cybunnies look awesome!!! :yes: I would love to have multiple pets of the same species, but since I would run out of pet slots that's not possible. TNT, why you do this to me?! :crying_blow:

Maractite Cybunnies are my favourite Cybunnies (alongside Robot)! I wanted one, but I have kinda changed my mind since I came up with a nice Shenkuu themed Cloud Cybunny costumization. lol

I went with a Phantom of the Opera actor preparing himself to go out on stage. :)



Hope you get your inspiration back!

I'm so sorry you're having trouble explaining it to your son, but it's a good thing you're trying! Maybe you could try to explain it to him as a short story instead? I think that first off, begin your story explaining that when you say ''trapped'', it isn't literal, like when he plays to be e.g. a superhero he puts on a costume and play, when it comes to trans people it's their own flesh that's their costume, a costume they don't want and that to help them come out from the costume some kind Doctors have already planned a rescue mission to save him! Doctors are kind people who know how to save people, sadly a rainbow staircase won't help Jay... so the only thing you can do is be nice, treat Jay as the boy he is and don't worry about the ''chest orbs'' and other parts of the ''costume'', since the Doctors will ''take care of them''. Jay will be sad if you don't treat him as a boy, the same as you would (probably) not like to be treated as a girl only because someone forced you to put on a princess costume with false chest orbs.

That might help him understand the situation, also, maybe you could look up some resources made mostly for transgender parents and their children on the internet... . If all that fails, maybe you could try showing him this ongoing kid-friendly and colourful webcomic, The Princess, that's about a girl who was born a boy and who meets other GLTBQ people, among others, a teenage FtM guy.

Yeahlatte has donated some Fried Eggs as a humorous prize, for all previous runner-ups that entered for the "Fashion egg" theme. :P If your neopet username isn't available on your account here, and you want your eggs lol, you can mail my account(Sabs).

 

Kasuokai- Nice entry! The Neopia Central Comic-Con is creative! :)

 

/haha I was really wondering why you sent me a Fried Egg. That's a hilarious runner-up prize. xP *Tips hat to Yeahlatte*

 

Thank you! I'm quite happy with my entry this time. ;) Now I kinda want my own Grundo to look like Hanso... . :P